I wander my lane like a night-troubled għaist,
And I sigh as my heart it wad burst in my breast.

a

“ O had she but been of a lower degree,
I then might hae hoped she wad smiled upon me!
o, how past describing had then been my bliss,

As now my distraction no words can express !”
We much admire the two first verses, “ O wha can prudence think upon,
which are well suited in style and sen. And sic a lassie by him ?
timent to a very beautiful and pathe- O what can prudence think upon,
tic air; but we think that the rest of And sae in love as I am ?
the song might, on the whole, have

O why, &c. been dispensed with, or ought, at least, to have been remodeled.

« How blest the humble cottar's fate !

He woos his simple dearie ; " A wooer like me maunna hope to come The silly bogles, wealth and state, speed,

Can never make them eerie. The wounds I maun hide that will soon be

O why,' &c. my dead ;'

We like the first verse of this song ; is clumsy and incongruous. “I sigh and, although the personification of as my heart it would burst in my Fate, taking “ pleasure" in untwining breast," does not please us, and seems life's dearest bands, is not in a style to enfeeble a stanza that might have either of Doric simplicity or of Attic been very good. Somehow or other, elegance, the chorus is redeemed by a “sigh” is not at all a poetical thing, the touching, though perhaps not very according to our Scotch customs or

coherent question: Why sae sweet a pronunciation.

The last verse is flower as Love should depend on Forpositively bad. The question in pro- tune's shining ? The rest of the song portion, or the rule of three, stated in

we think is, on the whole, very infethe concluding lines,

rior. Nothing can well be worse than

the verse“ O how past describing had then been As now my distraction no words can ex

" Her een, sae bonnie blue, betray

That she repays my passion ;

But prudence is her o'erword aye, is much too formal and calculating,

She talks o' rank and fashion." and is destitute of any felicity of thought or language.

The next verse, Of the same mixed character is the dence think upon ?" is vigorous and following:

characteristic, though scarcely poeti

cal. “ O poortith cauld and restless love, The song of Gala Water” is simple

Ye wreck my peace between ye ! and successful. The last verse has Yet poortith a' I could forgi'e,

much in it of earnestness and beauty. An' 'twere na for my Jeanie. O why should Fate sic pleasure have

6. There's braw braw lads on Yarrow Life's dearest bands untwining ?

braes, Or why sae sweet a flower as love

That wander through the blooming heaDepend on fortune's shining ?

ther; “ This warld's wealth, when I think on

But Yarrow braes, nor Ettrick shaws,

Can match the lads o' Gala water.
It's pride and a'the lave o't;
Fie, fie, on silly coward man'
That he should be the slave o't!

" But there is ané, a secret ane,
O why, &c.

Aboon them a' I lo'e him better ;

And I'll be his and he'll be mine, “ Her een, sae bonnie blue, betray

The bonnie lad o' Gala water. That she repays my passion ;

“ Altho' his daddie was nao laird, But prudence is her o'erword aye,

And tho' I hae nae muckle tocher, She talks o'rank and fashion.

Yet rich in kindness, truest love,
O why, &c.

We'll tent our flocks by Gala water.

my bliss,

press!”

66 O wha can pru.

• It ne'er was wealth, it ne'er was wealth, For far in the west lives he I lo'e best, That coft contentment, peace, or plea- The lad that is dear to my babie and sure ;

me." The bands and bliss o' mutual love,

O that's the chiefest warld's treasure!" Never, surely, was the religion of deThe living influences of those loca.

voted love more truly, more warmly lities, that dwell in love's remembrance

expressed than in these few but magi

cal lines. as the scenes of past happiness, or the

We may observe, by the lodestars of present solicitude, are

way, that, although furnished less forfertile themes of lyrical poetry, and

mally and less responsibly, the contri. Burns well understood and familiarly

butions of Burns to the Museum were availed himself of their power. Among

often more racy and more spirited

than those which were written for Mr the very sweetest of all his compositions is the following example of this

Thomson's Collection. In the Museum, topic, which opens in the most natural

for instance, appeared the noble song and touching strain ; and, though not

which we are about to quote, and of

which one half stanza would of itself altogether equal, has much of simple

have beauty throughout :

preserved the name of Burns

throughout all time; and would more “ Of a' the airts the wind can blaw,

than compensate, not only for the inI dearly like the west,

equalities of the other lines, though For there the bonnie lassio lives,

they had been The lassie I lo'e best.

tely greater, but

for all the commonplaces which Mr " There wild-woods grow, and rivers row,

Thomson was fain to accept as true And mony a hill between;

poetry :But day and night my fancy's flight Is ever wi' my Jean.

“ Ae fond kiss, and then we sever!

Ae fareweel, alas, for ever! " I see her in the dewy flowers,

Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee, I see her sweet and fair;

Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee. I hear her in the tunefu' birds,

Who shall say that Fortune grieves him, I hear her charm the air:

While the star of hope she leaves him?

Me, nae cheerfu' twinkle lights me, " There's not a bonnie flower that springs Dark despair around benights me.

By fountain, shaw, or green,
There's not a bonnie bird that sings, “ I'll ne'er blame my partial fancy,
But minds me o' my Jean.

Naething could resist my Nancy:

But to see her was to love her, “ O blaw ye westlin winds, blaw saft Love but her, and love for ever. Amang the leafy trees ;

Had we never loved so kindly, Wi' gentle gale, frae muir and dale, Had we never loved so blindly, Bring hame the laden bees :

Never met-or never parted,

We had ne'er been broken-hearted.
And bring the lassie back to me
That's aye sae neat and clean :

" Fare-thee-weel, thou first and fairest! Ae look o'her wad banish care,

Fare-thee-weel, thou best and dearest! Sae lovely is my Jean.”

Thine be ilka joy and treasure, Perhaps a still more exquisite and im- Peace, enjoyment, love, and pleasure ! passioned expression of the same feel- Ae fond kiss, and then we sever! ing, is shown in a couple of verses to Ae fareweel, alas, for ever! be found in Johnson's Museum.com Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee,

Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee." “ Out over the Forth, I look to the north, But what is the north and its Highlands

In the Museum, also, we have “ The to me? The south northe east gie ease to my breast, Posie,” which was adopted by ThomThe far foreign land, nor the wide roll

But I will down yon river rove, amang the fields sae green,

And a' to pu' a posie to my ain dear May.
" The primrose I will pu,' the firstling of the year,
And I will pu' the pink, the emblem o'

my dear-
For she's the pink o' womankind, and blooms without a peer :

And a' to be a posie to my ain dear May.
“I'll pu' the budding rose, when Phoebus peeps in view,
For it's like a baumy kiss o' her sweet bonnie mou';
The hyacinth's for constancy wi' its unchanging blue :

And a' to be a posie to my ain dear May.
“ The lily it is pure, and the lily it is fair,
And in her lovely bosom I'll place the lily there ;
The daisy's for simplicity and unaffected air :

And a' to be a posie to my ain dear May.
“ The hawthorn I will pu,' wi' its locks o' siller gray,
Where, like an aged man, it stands at break o' day;
But the songster's nest within the bush I winna tak’ away :

And a' to be a posie to my ain dear May.

" The woodbine I will pu' when the evening star is near,
And the diamond draps o' dew shall be her een sae clear ;
The violet's for modesty, which weel she fa's to wear :

And a' to be a posie to my ain dear May.
“ I'll tie the posie round wi' the silken bands o' luve,
And I'll place it in her breast, and I'll swear by a' above,
That to my latest draught o'life the band shall ne'er remove :

And this will be a posie to my ain dear May."

every reader

The last, it would appear, of Burns's songs of Burns which are entitled to communications to the Museum, was the admiration. Why should we set down song of Mally's meek, Mally'ssweet, the imperishable verses of “ Auld which, in some respects homely enough, Langsyne," which has yet much to recommend it. The worth addressing can repeat, as if idea in the last stanza might have been they were printed before his eyes ? or better brought out, but it has the fire why add a “ perfume to the violet," of genius

by bestowing on them a vague and un“ Her yellow hair, beyond compare,

meaning praise, or attempting to point Comes trinkling down her swan-white

out beauties that are obvious to all ? neck;

Why should we notice many other And her two eyes, like stars in skies, songs to which the observations we

Would keep a sinking ship frae wreck.” have already made may with suitable Is not this a vivid expression of the changes be easily transferred ?-some

of them being almost unexceptionably power of beauty over the darkness and the storms of life? Do we not here beautiful, but the most part chequered

with a mixture of error and defect see at a glance, as in a dream not diffi- amidst their pervading excellences. cult to be interpreted, a tempestuous

We have always greatly admired sea, and a labouring vessel with de.

the comic songs of Burns, but it is spairing mariners; and then, amidst

not our intention to enter here on a the severing clouds, a vision of those

detailed examination of them. Such « lucida sidera,” those Ledæan twins,

compositions do not equally challenge " Quorum simul alba nautis or call for criticism as more serious Stella refulsit

attempts, and it would not be so easy Defluit saxis agitatus humor

to find room for observation upon Considunt venti, fugiuntque nubes,

them. Burns's genius was as well Et minax (quod sic voluere) ponto adapted for the ludicrous as for the Unda recumbit.

pathetic, and his command of approIt would extend this article be- priate vernacular language for ludi. yond the length of a midsummer's crous subjects was peculiarly great. day, if we were to review all the Instead of offering the commonplace

a

9

observations that could alone occur person with whom our townsmen are to us here, we shall conclude this ar

well acquainted as a member of the ticle by laying before our readers Scottish Bar, and as having on at some of our poet's comic effusions least one occasion come forward as a in a foreign dress, which may at once candidate for the representation of amuse by its novelty, and help us Edinburgh. The work contains transto judge of their intrinsic merits, lations, all of them in prose, of seveand to form a conjecture as to the ral of Burns's best pieces, both seriideas regarding them which may be ous and comic, including “ The Cotacquired by those who are total stran- tar's Saturday Night,” and “ Tam o' gers to the language in which they Shanter." But we confine our quoare written.

Our extracts are taken tations to one or two of the comic from a small and rather scarce vo- songs, as most in accordance with our lume, published at Paris in 1826, and own plan, and most likely to interest bearing the following title : “ Mor. and amuse our readers. We refrain ceaux Choisis de Burns, Poète Ecos- from making any comment whatever Traduits

James on the translations, except here and Aytoun et J. B. Mesnard." The there to print in italics some of the Monsieur James Aytoun who has a passages which appear the most strikshare in these translations is no other, ing. We place the original and the We believe, than the very amiable translation opposite to each other :

sais ;

par MM.

• " Marguerite."

Ce rocher immense s'éleve dans la mer qui borde le comté où Burns est né." “ Ce que signifie cette locution, n'est pas exprimé chez nous d'une manière aussi decente."

“ Duncan was a lad o' grace,

". Duncan était un garçon genereux ; Ha, ha, the wooing o't;

l'état de Maggie inspirait la pitie !!. Maggie's was a piteous case,

Duncan ne pouvait la laisser mourir !.... Ha, ha, the wooing o't.

Sa pitie se développa donc au point de l'emDuncan could na be her death,

porter sur sa colère. . . . . Maintenant ils Rising pity smoor’d his wrath :

sont tous les deux gais et contens.' Now they're crouse and cantie baith,

Ha, ha, the wooing o't."

We have seen some other transla- &c. But the rest lives not perfectly tions in the same style, which we in our recollection, and we have not wish we had at hand : One of them enough of confidence in our French running thus 66 Guillaume Wastle to fill up the deficiencies of memory. demeurait sur Tweed, à un lieu qu'on The contrast of the quotations above appellait Linkumdoddie ;” another, made, present, we think, a proof of «Èh! sifflez, et je viendrai à vous, the very different powers of condenmon gargon! Quoique mon père et ma sation either in the two writers or in mère deviendraient fous, Eh! sifflez," the two languages.

“Il est inutile d'expliquer le sens de cette phrase proverbiale."